The Crafting Chronicles: New Beginnings (Final Copy)
by LeonidasCraft
Summary: Leonidas and Zoeya have found themselves marooned on a strange new land, the only survivors of their plane crash. No more than a few minutes after waking, they are met with a mysterious white eyed man; who disappears before they can question him. Gaining a companion named Paige, they must do their best to survive. (MC Concepts, but in a real world setting.) [The Re-Write is here!]
1. Chapter 1: Leonidas

**Well... Here it is. The final copy of TCC:NB. This will be updated whenever I get the next chapter done. Probably won't be for a while, so if you're interested in this, I'd recommend following. You don't have to, but this chapter itself has taken months (of me writing on and off) to write. So.**

**As a side note, I drew a new cover; but it's on a computer I don't currently have access to. I will upload it ASAP, but this is a good placeholder.**

**I really hope you enjoy this, as it's taken a large amount of effort to write.**

**Thanks!**

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Chapter 1: Leonidas

"Thank you for your patience. The issue has been resolved, and take off will commence shortly." The speaker made a small crackling noise as the connection was severed. I allowed a small grin onto my face. Shaking my head and chuckling, I turned to the girl sitting next to me.

"It's about time, huh? I'm not sure how much longer I'd been able to take." She rolled her eyes, crossing her arms.

"You say it like you're the only one. This whole day has just been a mess. At least we can blame this one on them." She looked up, and pressed the button to turn on the fans. "I can't believe they board us all onto the plane BEFORE they realize there's a problem with it. It's bloody hot in here!" I actually laughed.

"I can't believe that you're actually complaining about the heat while wearing a SWEATSHIRT of all things." She simply gave me a small 'hmph' before leaning back in her seat and closing her eyes. I raised an eyebrow. "Hell, Zoe, did you actually pack any summer clothes? We're going to Hawaii, not Alaska."

"Of course I did! T-Shirts, Tank tops, Bathing Suits, all of that stuff." She opened one of her eyes, looking over at me. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm gonna take a nap. Wake me up when we get there." She then pulled her hood up, closing her eye again. I frowned.

"And what am I supposed to do on the trip over there?" She shrugged.

"I dunno. Read a book? Listen to music? You have a phone ya know." I sighed, looking to my right, out the window. This morning had been a living hell; between getting up way earlier than I felt reasonable, to the traffic we'd hit on the way over here, it'd just been one thing after the other going wrong.

The sky had cleared up since leaving our apartment, which I suppose is nice. Cloudy days are good, but some sun here and there doesn't hurt. I folded my arms and placed them behind my head. The sound of the engines whirring up soon filled the plane, as we finally started to move. I tuned out the flight attendant, placing my ear buds in my ears. I took one last look out the window, before barely catching something I hadn't seen before.

A small, wisp-like figure floated in the corner of my vision. I could only faintly make it out due to the opacity of its body, but it was definitely there. I turned my head to look at it, but it was gone. I frowned, searching around for it for the next minute or two, with no luck. Resigning to the fact that whatever it is was gone, I sat back in my seat. Yawning, I sifted through my IPhone library. Eventually just picking one of the many chiptunes I had downloaded, I set it on repeat before closing my eyes. Apparently I was more tired than I had realized, because I soon drifted off.

...

I opened my eyes to a white landscape. Sitting up, I looked around. Aurora-like formations danced through the air around me, dissipating when I reached out to touch them. The entire place had an ethereal feeling to it.

"Leonidas." I didn't realize how quiet it had been until the silence was broken. I turned towards where I heard the voice. I found the same wispy figure from earlier floating a few feet away from me, slowly drifting up and down. With a better look at it, I observed it had no mouth, or nose, or really any facial features save for its eyes. Every time it moved, it left an opaque trail behind it, which slowly faded away. I instinctively flinched back upon seeing it, before noticing the sad look in its ghostly eyes. "Do not be afraid. I wish no harm upon you." I frowned, eyeing it nervously.

"What are you? Where am I?" It looked away.

"I have contacted you in your sleep. This is a sort of lucid dreamscape created by your subconscious. As for what I am…" It closed its eyes. "That's not important, or for you to know. What you do need to know however, is that you are in grave danger." It turned back to face me, a serious look in its eyes. "If things are allowed to continue as they are with no intervention by myself or others, you will die today. I'd like to prevent that."

"Erm." I bit my lip, looking away from the… thing. I'm not really sure how to react here. Wispy ghosts don't exactly come into my dreams every day to tell me of my imminent doom. "Alright..." I sighed. "So… Wispy…? Let's say I believe that this is all real, and just not some really lucid dream. I appreciate it, but why are you concerned with my well-being? Do you need me for some 'epic quest'? Am I some 'Chosen One'?" It shook its head- or rather, its body.

"No, nothing like that. Just… certain promises I made that I'm keeping my word on. Again, nothing you need to be concerned about." It made a sighing noise. "Back onto what I was saying. The plane you're on? It's going to crash." My eyes widened. "There will be no survivors. That includes you and your friend as well. I can change that, by getting you two out of there before the crash." I fidgeted with my fingers.

"So why are you telling me this? Why not just do it?" It made a gesture I interpreted as an eye roll, despite its lack of pupils.

"If you're freaking out about the ghost trying to save you as the plane is crashing, I won't be able to do what I need to do. So please, refrain from flailing or anything of the sort."

"Um. Alright, got it." I looked off to the side. "Where are you going to take us? Home?"

"I can't tell you. Not home though, no. To move two of you that distance in an instant would require way more energy than I have."

"Will we be able to get home…?"

"I wouldn't able to tell you, even if I did know. I'm already infringing on a lot of my kind's rules by what I'm doing here. Please, for your own good, and mine, stop asking questions." Its voice had a curt tone to it, and I decided it wasn't worth pushing any further.

"So what do I do now?" It closed its eyes. The landscape around me faded to black, as I lost consciousness.

...

I woke up to a disaster. People through the plane were screaming like mad, jarring me back to my senses. I quickly surveyed the immediate surroundings, trying to take in as much as I could in a few seconds. The window to my right was completely clouded with smoke, the flight attendants were futilely trying to calm the panicking passengers, and Zoey was busy clinging to my arm, screaming her throat out. I found the edges of my vison growing black, before the Wisp from my dream materialized in front of me. It gave me a quick nod, before slowly starting to rotate around us. I heard its voice in my head.

"Close your eyes, this is going to be bright." I did as I was told, wrapping my arms around Zoe. I felt a slight breeze start to brew around the two of us, before growing into a rapid whirlwind. I clung to my fading awareness, and everything went white. I conked out.

...

I groaned. A sharp pain pierced through my skull, as I struggled to make sense of anything at all. Feeling in my limbs slowly came back to me, and I gritted my teeth through the pain. Attempting to open my eyes, I was met with the blazing sun. I moaned, snapping them shut; the bright light blinding my unadjusted rods. I laid there like that, for a few minutes, before using my arms to slowly bring myself into a sitting position.

I gave opening my eyes another try, and was met again with the harsh light of the sun. Fortunately, it wasn't to the point of unbearable pain, so I was able to see. What I saw was not what I expected.

The ocean. Water, as far as I could see. I craned my head to the left and right, finding sand that stretched out of my viewing distance. My strained mind attempted to understand what I saw, only to fail miserably. _That can't be right…_

I bit my lip, trying to piece together the situation. My train of thought was cut short by a feminine moan coming from beside me. I looked down to find my friend and roommate, Zoe, lying there. She raised her hands to her face, pushing the mess of orange hair out of her eyes and mouth.

"Ugghmmmmfk…" She mumbled something unintelligible under her breath, doing her best to sit up. I helped to the best of my ability. She lazily turned her head in my direction, and it became obvious that she was still half asleep, if not more. I wrapped my arm around her shoulder, giving her a little shake.

"Zoe? You alright…?" She opened her eyes, heavily glazed over. "Hello?" Her expression was unreadable, but she blinked a few times. I could see her pupils slowly come into focus, and she stared at me blankly for a few moments before her eyebrows furrowed in a confused manner.

"…Leo…?" Somewhat suddenly, she seemed to jolt to a much more aware state of mind. She glanced past my head, and I could see her become even more confused. "…What… the hell?" She grunted, shaking me off of her, and clumsily stood up. She looked all around, taking a good look at our surroundings, before gazing back at me. I could see the primal fear in her eyes. "LEO. WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON." I placed my hands up.

"WHOA! Calm down! Panicking is the worst thing to do! Just breathe!" She fell to her knees, clutching the sides of her head. Much to my body's discontent, I crawled over to her, placing my arms around her shoulders. "Look, just… breathe. We'll figure this out." She closed her eyes, and looked like she was going to say something, before she just clamped her mouth back shut. We sat there for a minute or two, as she slowly calmed down. Once I was confident that she wouldn't panic again, I let her go. She opened her eyes, and turned to look at me.

"…Alright… I think I'm alright now… But… what happened…? Do you know?" She looked out at the endless ocean. "Where we are…?" I scratched the back of my head, sighing. I decided against telling her about my vision. She didn't need another thing to worry about.

"Well… Obviously we didn't crash with the plane. There are no parts of it anywhere around here anywhere, and I doubt we would have made it out alive to begin with." I closed my eyes, and cracked my neck. "There's really no way to know, but what happened shouldn't be our main concern. What should be our first objective…" I opened my eyes. "…Is finding out where the hell we landed." She sighed, looking to the ground and kicking the sand.

"Do you think anyone survived besides us?" I put my hand on her shoulder, and she looked at me with apparent despair. I shook my head, confirming what was pretty much obvious in the first place. Her spirits dropped as the situation really settled in, before her expression changed back into one of confusion. "Wait…" She tilted her head to the side. "…Then… who is that over there…?" She seemed to be looking past me, and I turned my head in said direction.

Far out in the distance, stood a man wearing a cyan shirt and what looked to be a ripped pair of blue jeans. What really stood out about him though, were his eyes. Even with the amount of space between us, I could clearly see that they were a plain pearly white; almost seeming to glow. I could see him narrow them, before looking down at a ragged brown book in his hands. I shouted out to him.

"Hey! You!" He looked back up at me, snapping the book shut. "Who are you?!" He stared at me with an unreadable expression, before kneeling down, and placing the book onto the sand. He then stood back up, turned around and started walking away; towards the edge of the beach, and into the jungle. My eyes widened. "HEY, WAIT!" I broke out into a sprint after him, as he disappeared into the greenery.

"Leo! No!" I came to a stop, and turned towards Zoe. "Don't go running off! We don't know where the hell we are! You'll get lost if you go in there!" I wanted to object, but it was obvious that she was right. I looked back out at where he had gone into the shrubbery, frustration brewing. I heard Zoe make her way over to me. "What's this?" I turned to see her kneeling down to pick something up. It was that book the man had put down; I guess I hadn't really paid it much attention when I went after him.

"What's the title? Or author?" She shook her head.

"There isn't one, the cover is blank…" She opened it to the first page, standing back up. "There's nothing written here either, just clean white pages…" I sighed, crossing my arms.

"Well that's just grea-" She put her hand up, interrupting me; her eyes were wide.

"Wait! Words are appearing on the page!" I looked at her, confused, and began walking over to get a look. She started reading. "**_Oh, um, _****_er_****_... Hi there, welcome to _****_Decoria_****_! My name is Paige, and I'll be your guide in learning basic survival_**_.__" _ She looked back up at me, her expression matching mine. She held out the book so I could see, and there were indeed words appearing right before my eyes. **_'Now, you might be wondering, "_****_A talking book? How is that even possible? Can it hear me?" Those are very valid questions, but I'd appreciate it if we could steer clear of the first one. It's a long story that I don't want to get into. _****_As for the second one, yes, I can. I can also see most of what's going on around _****_myself _****_in a sort o_****_f 'third person' view. Lastly, I am _****_a she, and would like to be referred to as such. Now, with that out of the way, why don't the two of you introduce yourselves? _****_Names?_**_'_ I blinked.

"Er. I'm Leonidas, and this here is Zoeya. Leo and Zoey work just fine though." _I'm talking to a book. What has my life come to?_ After a second or so, more words started to appear. '**_Nice to meet you then. _****_Now… you two are going to need shelter. The nights here are… let's j_****_ust say that they're unpleasant.'_** I bit my lip.

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

**_'_****_It's not important right now, t_****_rust me. _****_Anywho_****_. _****_The first thing you're going to _****_need, _****_is wood. Do you see those trees on the edge of the beach?'_** I looked up, and saw that there were indeed a few palm trees on the strip of grass before cutting into the jungle. **_'Good. Now, obviously you'll need to cut those down before you can make anything useful.'_**

"But how are we supposed to do that? I don't see any axes around here."

**_'Oh, right. Guess I should get this out of the way, before I have to explain it twenty more times… Anything and everything you knew about how the world works? Throw it out. Literally chuck it out the window. _****_Things work differently here. _****_Alright. _****_Now that you've done that, I need you to go punch that tree. _****_A lot. _****_Over and over.'_** I blinked.

"…Seriously?" The book glowed.

**_'_****_Mhm_****_. Completely serious.'_** I looked at Zoe, and she seemed to be staring at me expectantly.

"Well?" I stared at her blankly.

"Well what?" She rolled her eyes.

"You heard her! Go punch the tree!" I looked at her like she'd just blown a fuse.

"Are you out of your mind?! I'd like my fist to remain **unbroken**, thank you very much!" She huffed.

"Look, after surviving a crash like that, meeting a mysterious man **with no pupils**, and then finding a talking book, I'm not sure WHAT to believe anymore! Just do it!" I shook my head.

"There is NO way you're getting me to punch that tree."

...

"I can't believe I'm seriously doing this." Fifteen minutes of arguing later, I'd finally just given in and walked over to the tree. The bloody girl is relentless. I shouted out to her, still standing back where we'd been. "I blame you if my fist breaks!" She just crossed her arms, rolling her eyes. I sighed, turning back to the tree. _Alright…__Just don't think about it, and maybe it won't hurt as bad._ Closing my eyes, I gritted my teeth and drew my arm back. _Here goes…!_

I unleashed my full force onto the trunk in front of me. I braced myself… for the pain that never came. Opening my eyes, I noted that my fist had definitely made contact with the tree, but I didn't feel a thing. Removing my hand, I saw a few cracks had appeared in the trunk. I raised an eyebrow. I pulled my fist back again, and slugged the same spot I had before; a few more cracks sprung out from the original spot. Zoe called out to me

"What happened?!" I turned to look at her.

"Uhm, the tree cracked a bit where I hit it."

"Huh. Well, would ya look at that." I turned to the tree again, and gave it a few more punches. After the cracks had spread to the edge of the trunk, a portion of it about the size of my head miniaturized itself, and dropped down into my palm. Panic seized my body as I instinctively jumped back, worried that the now floating tree would fall on me. To my surprise, the tree did nothing of the sort, and instead continued levitating there like nothing had ever happened. I could hear Zoey burst into laughter behind me.

I rolled my eyes, before looking down at the small wooden cube that had dropped into my hand. Zoe made her way over to me, still giggling a bit.

"Oh my god, your reaction was amazing." I grumbled, giving her a light punch on the shoulder. She just choked out another few laughs, before stopping.

"So what do I do with this?" She looked at the little cube in my hand. The book glowed again, and she just handed it to me so that I could read it. **_'_****_There we go. That wasn't too hard, now was it? Alright, now, I need you to shove the cube in _****_your pocket._****_'_** I almost went to object, before deciding it wasn't worth it. I shoved the edge into my jeans pocket, and found it easily going inside; And then it seemed to disappear. I would say I was surprised, but after what had just happened, I think the initial shock period is over. Zoe patted where my pocket was, which was surprisingly flat.

"What the..." I glanced back at the book. **_'_****_Hehe, I forgot how fun it is to see newbies' reactions to this stuff. Anyway, next, just shove your hand into your pocket, and close your eyes. Zoey, read what I'm saying to him while he does this please.'_** I did as she asked, and found as I reached inside, that it was a lot bigger on the inside. As I closed my eyes, a grid appeared in my field of vision. Zoey continued reading.

"**_As you can probably see, your pockets have been converted into some sort of an inventory; about 32 boxes, and the piece of wood should be inside one of them. Try to imagine grabbing it with your hand, and pull your hand out._**" I did, and sure enough, the little cube was in my grasp as I pulled it out. "**_Now, put it back in but keep your grip on it. After you do that, you should see a 2x2 grid of boxes separate _****_from the others, with a arrow pointing to one on the right of it._****_You can craft things with this using materials you'll collect. Place the wood in one of the boxes, which will get you four wooden planks. Then fill the 2x2 with these to get a crafting table._** I went through the steps she had laid out, and got said product. I pulled it out, and found that it had actually worked.

"So... why do I need this if I can just do it in my head?"

"**_Well, first off, place it down. Just put it on the ground and it should become full size again._**" After doing so, it grew until it was about up to my waist height-wise. "**_See that there's a 3x3 of boxes on top of the table? That lets you make more complex stuff. Or at least, anything that has a shaped recipe._**" I tapped my foot on the sand.

"Alright, so what are some of the ones we need to know?"I just read the words on the page at this point. **_'Well, all you really need to know right now is a pickaxe and axe, so that's all I'm _****_gonna _****_give _****_ya_****_. I put them in a different section, near the end. When you need more of them, that's where they'll be. _****_Anywho_****_; I feel that's bout' it for now. I'll continue teaching you stuff later. Now, get going; it's around noon, I think.'_** I looked up from the page, at Zoe. She seemed to be thinking.

"Look, as much as this is all crazy and insane and ten other words of that sort, we really don't have much other choice but to do what she says. Plus, I don't really feel like sleeping outside tonight. So, here's what I'm thinking; I'll make you an axe with that recipe, while you go grab some wood and scout out somewhere to build. I'll stay here and see if I can find any clues as to how all of this happened on the beach here. Then, we'll meet back up around 6, and head over to whatever place you find and camp out for the night. It's not the most solid of plans, but I'm not sure what else there is that we can do." I sighed, scratching the back of my head.

"Yeah, alright, sure." She tried her best to put on a smile, but I could see through it easily. She was still really afraid, that much was obvious; but she was tough. And so am I. We'll get through this, together.

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**This is SO much better than the original. SO MUCH.**

**~LeonidasCraft~**


	2. Chapter 2: Zoeya

**Chapter Two! It's finally done! Yes, it's shorter, but that's also because I decided that I wanted to cut it off here. I might have honestly packed too much into that first chapter, I dunno. I'm guessing the chapters will be around this length, but I also might start making them just however long I feel is right. I won't be going under this amount of words in a chapter though, so don't worry about that. As you can see, everything is still the same, there's just a lot more detail, conversation, and I'm also skipping over a lot less of the trivial things. That was a big mistake.**

**Anyway, I've taken up enough time here, Enjoy!**

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**C****hapter 2: ****Zoeya**

He disappeared off into the foliage, and I felt the uneasy smile I'd been faking crack. My heart sunk to the bottom of my chest, as I let out a deep sigh. _No need to stay composed, now that I'm alone..._ I sat and leaned up against the crafting block, turning my eyes to the sky. This was really all a bit too much to take in at once.

...Okay, a lot too much, to be honest. I watched the clouds pass as I sat there, thinking. My panic had subsided for now, mostly due to Leo acting as calm as he was. But really, unless things changed quickly, I'm not sure how long it will stay that way. We have no idea of our location, aside from what a **magical book** had told us, and even then, I've never heard of a place called Decoria...

Then again, I don't really pay too much attention in Social Studies, so what do I know? Perhaps I could check the GPS? Biting my lip, I pulled out my phone and checked my reception. It said something completely different than either of the things I was expecting to see.

I had 3 or 4 bars, but the 4G was replaced by... _Connections_. Next to that, It had a 1. I'm no techie, but I've never heard of a phone doing something like that. When I went into my contacts, it only displayed Leonidas. No phone number or email, just his name. Leonidas Craft. All my other contacts were gone. I furrowed my eyebrows, popping over to the navigation app. It showed me a map, but the area around my little circle that it did show, was black. What was this, a fucking video game? Before I clicked the power button, I checked how much it had left; and noticed that the battery bar seemed to be perpetually stuck on the 'charging' icon. Whether it was, I had no idea, but to be honest, I'm not sure I care at this point.

Rubbing my eyes, I was pulled out of my thoughts by the book on my lap. It started vibrating, and I think it glowed a little bit. I shifted my position to a more comfortable one, grunting a little, before opening it up. The words that had been there before were replaced by a single sentence.

**_'You doing alright?'_** I almost wanted to laugh at the absurdity of it all. I was lost in an unknown location with weird shit going on all around me, and that's ignoring the fact that we didn't die during the plane crash in the first place. And now a magic book was asking me if I was alright.

"No, I am **not** really alright. I'm not sure how someone could be 'alright' in this situation." After a second or two, it she responded.

**_'Look, I know you can't possibly believe me when I say this, but I understand how you're feeling.'_** I couldn't resist chuckling a little at that.

"Oh, is that so?"

**_'Yes. Look, I'm not going to lie to you. This isn't really the most ideal situation to land into. But it's really not as bad as it seems. Just follow my instructions, and you two should be alright.'_** I scoffed.

"Should?"

**_'Well, if I tell you you'll be perfectly fine, and then something happens, who's the liar?'_** I sighed, rubbing the back of my head.

"Whatever..."

**_'Anyway; are you just going to sit there? Or are you going to make some use of the sunlight you have left?'_** I glanced over at the sun, noting it had traveled quite a bit from the middle of the sky where it had previously been. I bit my lip.

"What's so bad about the night anyway?" After a few moments, I looked down to only see a '…' on the page. "Paige?" Finally, she started again.

**_'Seriously, you just don't want to know. Point is, you do not want to be outside when it gets dark. Can you please trust me on that?'_** Even though all it was was text, she made herself pretty clear that she was looking out for my best interests here, so I dropped the subject.

"...Alright."

**_'Thank you. Now look, I need you to go get like 4 pieces of wood. I'll tell you the next thing you need to do after that.'_** I cringed. **_'Yeah, it sucks, but wood is like, one of the most basic materials you'll get here, and you'll need it for a ton of stuff. After you get these, I_****_'ll _****_walk you through making a_****_n axe.'_** I took a deep breath, and forced my body into a standing position.

"Fine." I stretched a bit. "But after we're all safe and all that, you have a lot more explaining to do."

After struggling to get the materials from the closest trees I could find, I plopped a block down next to the Crafting Table and took a seat.

"Okay..." I took the 4 wood blocks out of my pocket and placed them onto the table, a little to the side of the grid. I put Paige on the other side. "So what now?"

A small grid that kind of looked like a Tic-Tac-Toe board appeared on the page, and a little 'W' appeared in the middle of it. She spoke below the grid.

**_'Okay, so, take the wooden blocks, and place them one by one into the center of the table. You took them out of a stack and it's easier to do mass crafting in stacks.'_** As I placed the first one into the center of the grid, It centered itself in the box and hovered slightly above the surface. To the left, in the lone box separate from the grid, a 3D hologram of a block of wooden planks showed up. There was a 4 carved in the top. I'd have been wowed if not for everything else that's happened. When I put the second one, I found that it merged with the first, and a little 2 carved itself into the top of the wooden block.

"Huh." I did the same with the others, and the 4 on the planks eventually changed to a 16. Paige vibrated.

**_'Alright, now just grab the hologram of the planks to make them. The crafting table pretty much works like the one in your head does, only it's bigger and makes a ton more stuff. After you do that, split up the stack of planks and divide one of the halves into two others. Then, place them like this-' She showed two planks above each other in the grid, '-to make sticks.'_** I followed her instructions step by step, and eventually wound up with the desired result; some sticks and wooden planks.

She changed the grid again to show the recipe for an axe, which was, to my disappointment, wooden. After making it, I stood up and gripped it with both hands. The handle was nice and smooth, and it kinda felt nice to have made something. Paige vibrated again, and I glanced over.

**_'While that's only wooden, you can gather other materials to make tools out of and just substitute the wood in the recipe. You'll need a pickaxe for that though. Which is what you'll make next._****_'_**

I spent a good portion of the afternoon collecting wood and learning more and more things about crafting. Paige supplied me with tips and recipes, of which I tried my best to memorize. After I made the pickaxe, she had me make a shovel and dig up the ground. Let me just say this; digging in the sand here is a ton easier than it was back where we came from. The sand would break into little block shaped holes, dropping the material on the ground, and none of the sand on the side tried to flow in, so I didn't have to keep re-digging it up.

Eventually, I hit a harder material, which Paige said was sandstone. I took the pick, and mined some of it up. After coming out of the hole, I asked Paige if I could make sandstone tools. She said she'd never honestly seen anyone try before. I thought for a moment, my curiosity perked. After a bit of tinkering, I found that the answer to that question was no. I was able to make some rods with it though, which made for a better handle than the sticks. After going back down into the hole, I dug a bit deeper and hit stone. According to Paige, this was the next step up in tool material, so I grabbed like, 10 blocks of it.

Satisfied with my Sandstone-Stone Toolset, I made some for Leo. Pretty sure he'll want some. Paige showed me a few more recipes, before I decided I'd done enough. I sat down on my makeshift chair, which was really just stairs, and closed my eyes. I noticed that I seemed to be a lot more calm now. I guess I'd gotten so into the crafting and such that the other stuff had faded away. I eventually drifted off to the sound of the waves crashing on the shoreline.

"Hey! Wake up!" The words jolted through my suddenly active brain. Startled, my eyes flew open as I fell straight off the chair and into the sand.

"oh my god what where wha" My dazed status slowly faded, as my vision came back into focus. I clenched my eyes closed, and struggled to my feet.

"Zoe." I opened one eye, rubbing the other, to see Leo standing there. I glanced at the sky and saw that the sun was starting to set. "What happened?" I sighed.

"I just fell asleep, you doof. Nothing happened." He rolled his eyes.

"Annnnyway. I made my way through the Jungle and found a good place for us to set up camp or something. Didn't find any other people or anything though." His gaze drifted over the tools and stuff I'd crafted still sitting all over the place. "I see you made some things..." I nodded.

"Mmm... Paige gave me a few recipes, so I tried them out." I picked up the tools lying around. "These are the ones for you, I have mine in my pocket." He took them, examining each one, before putting them away. "So, do you know the way back to the place you found?" He nodded.

"Mhm. The GPS on my phone seems to be working, to an extent. It's been like, recording the area around me as I walk, that's how I found my way back here." _Huh. So his is doing it as well?_ I bit my lip, before deciding to ask him about it later.

"Alright, we should get going then, before it gets dark." We snatched up the random things that were still lying around and stored them in our pockets, before heading off into the Jungle. He lead, and I followed closish behind him. For a while, we just chatted about trivial, normal things. Anything to distract from the actual situation we were in. Eventually though, silence found its way into the air. Said silence did nothing but slowly let the dread I felt earlier slowly creep back into my gut. In an attempt to dodge it, I gave a weak effort to spark conversation. "So..." He turned back to look at me, raising his eyebrow.

"Hm?" I rubbed my shoulder.

"Um... did you find anything interesting on your way over here? You know, the first time." He turned back around, thinking for a minute.

"Not really. Just trees." I frowned.

"Just trees?" He shrugged.

"I dunno. What else did you expect me to find in a forest?" I looked down, falling quiet. Didn't really know what to answer. When I looked back up, I noticed that the trees were starting to clear up. "Ah, we're here now. It's just a bit past the other side." I crossed my arms, as we continued walking.

By the time we got to the spot he'd mentioned, it was nearly night. The sun was only still slightly peaking over the horizon, and I'd say we had 15 minutes at most. Both of us pretty much understood what we had to do to build, so we got right to it. By the time darkness fell, we'd constructed what was effectively a wooden box big enough for the two of us to fit in.

"Well... It's not much, but I guess it'll have to do." I sighed, rubbing the back of my head.

"It's better than nothing, isn't it? At least we don't have to sleep... out... side." About that moment was when I had quite a shitty revelation. We had no beds. Or pillows. Or really any of the things you usually use when going to sleep. I glanced at Leo to see he'd realized the same thing.

"We're going to have to sleep on the ground." I hung my head.

"Yup." He groaned. As I was looking down, I caught Paige glowing out of the corner of my eye. I opened her up to be greeted with two words; that covered half the page.

**_'GO INSIDE.'_** I'm pretty sure if she could talk, I'd be deaf.

"Alright, Alright..." I gestured to Leo to go in. "C'mon, let's just get inside." He took one last look at the sky, where the moon was almost fully visible, before heading inside. I followed behind, closing the door. It was pretty much pitch black, so I clicked on my phone for some extra light. Closing my eyes, I leaned up against the wall and slid to the ground. Leo took a seat against the opposite wall. The two of us lock eyes for a few moments, before I awkwardly look over to the side.

"So what now? Do we just... go to sleep?" He sighs, closing his eyes.

"I guess. Not like there's much else we can do." I looked down.

"Well... good night then...?" He managed a weak smile.

"Night, Zoe." I clicked off my phone, and closed my eyes. Slipping off my sweatshirt, I folded it up to use as a pillow. I placed it on the ground, slowly lowering my head onto it. A cold breeze came through the window of the door, and I shivered.

As I slowly drifted off, I could swear I heard a growling noise on the other side of the wall. My drowsy mind dismissed it as my imagination.

Because that's all it could be.

Right?

* * *

**As you can see, this is as long, if not longer than the second chapter of the original, while that encompassed everything that happened here, plus a large amount of other things. This is a good indicator of what things to come will be like.**

**Thanks for reading! I'll hopefully have the next chapter up soon. If I do it the way I'm planning, this will be something that wasn't even in the original. **

**~LeonidasCraft~**


	3. Chapter 3: Zoeya

**Ahahah. Happy new years, I guess? I'm awful, I know. Life is busy, what can I say? The stuff just kinda happens, and then the things go down, and suddenly it's a year later, WHOOPS. **

**Um.**

**Anyway, here you guys go. Hope it was worth the wait? I'm really happy with the first half of the chapter, at least.**

* * *

Chapter 3: Zoeya 

_"Hey mom, can Zoey stay by our house tonight?" My mind was fogged, vision blurred into a mess of color. I struggled to get my thoughts to the point of coherency. 'Wh... where...' _

_"I don't know Leo, we'll have to see what happens. She did stay over just a few days ago..." I was too sluggish to attempt to match the voices to names, but they sounded familiar. I tried moving, only to find I was completely unable. My mouth and body started working by themselves, speaking words that weren't mine. _

_"Awww, please...?" I felt myself pout. '...what the... is this a dream...?' I racked my brain with what energy I could muster, to try and match this scene to any other dreams I've had. The other female voice spoke up again. _

_"Oh, I suppose we're alright with it, as long as your parents are too." I went through dream after dream, memory after memory, trying to pick out what this could be. I groaned inwardly, my efforts significantly draining my low energy. I felt both myself and the boy to the right of me cheer. I turned my focus completely to searching, blocking out the chatter going on around me. _

_After a while of searching, I found it. _

_'No.' My phantom lungs grew short of breath, and I found my mind engulfed in panic. 'NONONO WAKE UP NOW ME PLEASE.' I felt dream me giggle at something the boy, whom I now could clearly tell was Leo, said. I started hyperventilating, screaming between inhales. I was a prisoner inside my own body, and there was nothing I could do to stop what came next. _

_My dream body suddenly felt nothing but pain. I felt my body lurch to the left, slamming into what was from my memory, a car door. I heard metal crunch straight into metal, throwing the vehicle into a tumble. I was thrown all around the place. After rolling over countless times, the car made one final impact into another large object, jerking me out of the dream. I'd never stopped screaming. _

...

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH-" I lurched straight up into a sitting position, finding myself unable to stop, before I felt a hand cupped over my mouth. I felt as if I'd been injected with pure adrenaline, and my mind wasn't in any state to process more than basic things. Before I could lash out at the owner of the hand, I felt two arms wrap around my torso, interlocking.

"Zoey, calm down! You're alright!" I continued gasping for air, although I'd managed to stop screaming. I sat there in that position, for what felt like hours, though it was probably only a few minutes. My mind slowly stopped racing, allowing me to actually think properly. And then the tears came. I cried, until I couldn't cry anymore. Leo, still holding me, waited patiently. After the last tear had fallen, and I'd gotten a hold of myself, he finally let go. I sniffled a little bit, slowly leaning back against the wall as I crossed my arms. Leo crawled next to me, sitting indian style. We both were silent for about a minute or two, before he spoke up.

"What was it about?" I looked at him, a downcast expression adorning my face. "The nightmare. Was it the one you had before?" I looked down at the ground, shaking my head. He thought for a moment. "So it's not the school one..." He sighed. "Uh, well, do you remember it?" I nodded, slowly. "So what was it about then?" I closed my eyes, and didn't say anything for a good minute or two. When I finally spoke, my voice was strained and cracked.

"It... I-it was... the n-night... d-december twelfth..." I struggled not to let more tears roll down my face. He was silent. I looked at him to see him cringing.

"But why…" I stopped him, my eyes growing watery again.

"I don't know! I haven't dreamed about that in years, damnit!" I choked back a sob, clenching my teeth as I squeezed my eyes shut. He seemed to shake off his shock as he placed his hand on my shoulder.

"Okay, okay! I'm sorry…!" He tried to calm me down by scooting closer, and letting me lean on him. We sat there for a minute or two. I think he was just trying to process the situation. The silence had started to set in again, making both of us even more uncomfortable. He coughed. "Do… You want to try and go back to sleep…? It's still the middle of the night." I took a deep breath, letting it out slowly.

"I… I guess so… I need to rest…" He nodded. "Um… Will you stay here next to me? I… I'd appreciate it." He managed a small grin.

"Heh, need big ol' Leo to protect you?" He laughed lightly, before taking a more serious tone. "Sure Zoe, if it'll help, I'm here for you." I nodded, closing my eyes.

"…Thanks." He just placed his hands in his lap.

"Mhm."

...

I yawned, slowly drifting into consciousness. Eyes still shut, I stretched out my limbs to shake off the morning stiffness. Looking to my right, I saw that Leo had already gotten up. The door was cracked open, and the morning light was flooding in. Blinking, I struggled to push myself up. Walking over to the door, I peeked through the window. Outside, I saw Leo sitting down on a block, talking with Paige. He also was eating an apple.

I pushed open the door, and stepped outside. The weather was warm, with a slight breeze. It felt nice, and for a few moments, I just stood there enjoying it. After a minute or so, I sighed, and started walking over to Leo. He finally noticed me, looking up from Paige.

"-guess… Oh, hey Zoey. Sleep better?" I nodded, and he grinned. He crammed his hand into his pocket, pulling out another apple. Tossing it to me, he continued. "Well, that's good. Anyway here's breakfast, chow down." I caught it. "Glad you got some rest, cause you're gonna need any energy you can get." I raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, really?" He nodded, looking back down.

"Yeah. Our house isn't gonna build itself." I placed down a block and sat.

"Wait, are you saying we're going to build a whole house?" He nodded.

"Well, yeah. Look, I was thinking about some stuff. We're here, with no idea where here is or how to get back home; I think it would be good for us to build a real place to live. Something nice; with the way things work in this place, I don't think it'll be that hard… So why not?" I frowned, leaning on my hands.

"Uh, because we should probably be more focused on getting home? Leo, this whole place has been setting off alarm bells in my head since we got here. Nothing makes sense. And you want to spend god knows how long building a house?" He sighed, frowning back.

"Zoe, I don't know about you, but sleeping in that place last night SUCKED. And who knows how long it'll take to find a way to get home; and then actually GET there. I asked Paige some stuff, and she's told me she literally has no idea how to get back to where we came from. And she's the expert out of the three of us." I groaned.

"Gah, fine. You win, okay? Let's just... do it then. Where are we going to build it, here?" He nodded.

"Yeah, seems a good a place as any. Might as well, yknow? Plus, this area seems to branch out into a bunch of different biomes too, and It's close to the beach." He shrugged. "Anyway, I've sketched out a rough design for it. Come over here and tell me what you think."

...

And so, over the next few hours, the two of us finalized a floor plan for our new home. By the time we were done, it was already mid day. We would use planks for the floors, and some of the darker wood from over in the snowy area up north for the walls.

While Leo went out to collect that, Paige taught me some more recipes. Among them were a furnace, a stone sword, and stone bricks. I also tracked down a few sheep that were grazing around the area we'd set up camp in, and cut off their wool with the sword. Beds, here I come.

Paige had me smelt some of the raw wood we had left in the furnace, which made some charcoal. I then went on to make a bunch of torches with her guidance. The charcoal made much better fuel than the wood, which was nice.

By the time I'd done all that, Leo had returned with a large amount of wood stocked up. I let him rest a little bit, while I got to work on building. I dug out a large patch of dirt where the floor was going to be, and started placing down the oak planks. After a little while, Leo got up and contributed, and by the time the sun had started setting, we were almost done with the first floor. The fact that everything seemed to magically bind together probably was a part of what made that possible.

As night fell, the two of us retreated back inside our little box, though the outside was now lit up, and we had beds. Glorious, comfortable beds. I flopped onto mine, letting out a content sigh. It was very, very nice. At least, to my aching, sore body, it was. I heard Leo laugh behind me.

"What, are the magically made beds really that good? You sound like you're in heaven." I pouted and turned towards him.

"Oh shush, I slept on a person and against a wooden wall last night. Not the best circumstances." He sat down on his bed, looking at me with an offended expression.

"Well, excuse me! I've been told that I'm VERY comfortable! Hmph!" I just laughed.

"Hehe... um, anyway, I guess today was pretty productive, huh? We could probably finish this thing in another day or so, if we go at the same rate we went today..." He nodded, swinging his legs onto the bed.

"Mhm. Good job with all that crafting and stuff, by the way. You're getting pretty good at all of it." I smiled, before getting under the bed covers. Letting out a little yawn, I plopped my head down on the pillow.

"Thanks... now, I'm gonna go to sleep, alright? My body is so sore right now, and I feel like I could pass out at any moment." He nodded, getting into his bed as well.

"Alright! Sleep well, Zoe!" I closed my eyes, letting darkness swallow my vision.

"You too."

* * *

**I lied. It's short again. But I should really switch up to Leo now, and I'm not gonna pad the chapter with fluff just to make it longer when I'm kind of already doing that.**

**Anyway, leave criticism and comments that you may have, they help me improve. Until next year (probably), this is Leo, signing off. Thanks for reading!**

**~LeonidasCraft~**


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